The Museum of Divine Statues is the creation of artist/restorer Lou McClung. Lou restores statuary in his workshop located in the museum. For more information about statue restoration please visit www.divinestatues.com. He always had an interest in religious statuary and began to save and restore pieces of religious art as churches in the area began to close. In 2012, he opened The Museum of Divine Statues in the former St. Hedwig church in the Birdtown area of Lakewood, OH.

Museum of Divine Statues

Friday, June 12, 2015

Ongoing Restoration Work

Lou McClung at work restoring a statue

Restoration work by artist Lou McClung is an on-going endeavor. Not only does he restore statues for his Museum of Divine Statues, but he also does commissions for institutions and individuals of both old statuary that has fallen into disrepair and new statuary that needs to be painted. He draws on his experience as a make-up artist with his own business (Lusso Cosmetics) when restoring these often neglected pieces of beautiful statuary.

Most of the older pieces are made of plaster and horse hair, so they frequently have had paint chip away, have lost fingers, or other elements, of their original form as they have been moved and jostled throughout the years. Lou also uses his experience in construction to craft solutions for anything from a missing hand to a broken pedestal, before his even begins to apply paint. The end result being a statue that often looks better then it did originally and now has renewed life. His respect for old world craftsmanship coupled with his desire to preserve history, have brought about a museum (housed in a re-proposed church) and a restoration business which gives these beautiful old pieces of statuary a new life, which young and old can experience anew.